Rasa recalled their performances in the original plot.
One was an elite jonin of Sunagakure.
One was an elite jonin of Konoha.
The former had extremely limited showings. His better-known achievement was killing Konoha's special jonin, Hayate Gekko.
The latter's showings were mainly concentrated around black market bounties and the battle against the immortal duo.
"No Kekkei Genkai. No special bloodline… No matter how hard ordinary shinobi work, this is about as far as they go."
"Their strength and potential are roughly equal."
"But this time, Maki will win."
"The Twin Peacock Swords may not count for much against truly powerful shinobi, but for the current Maki, they can still provide considerable support."
Rasa's gaze shifted to Kisame Hoshigaki.
Compared to whether Maki could win this match, Rasa cared more about whether Maki could accept the fact that Kisame Hoshigaki's strength and potential were above his own.
After today, how would he get along with Kisame Hoshigaki?
Could he settle his own mindset?
Rasa withdrew his gaze and looked back toward the arena.
At this moment, the battle between Maki and Asuma Sarutobi had already reached a heated stage.
Asuma Sarutobi had begun using ninjutsu of other attributes aside from Wind Release. Maki held a sword in each hand, using the advantage of the Twin Peacock Swords to the greatest extent possible.
The audience around the arena watched with great satisfaction.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression did not look very good.
Originally, Hiruzen believed that as long as Asuma displayed his true strength, defeating Maki should not be much of a problem.
But now, the situation had become somewhat wrong.
Hiruzen could tell that Asuma had already fallen into a disadvantage.
He was still attacking fiercely.
But compared to Asuma, Maki had become much calmer.
"If nothing unexpected happened, Sunagakure must have bribed Mui and deliberately arranged for Maki to face Asuma."
"They used their upper horse against Konoha's middle horse."
"However…"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze landed on Asuma.
"Asuma, you disappoint me too much."
"Even if Sunagakure is manipulating things from the shadows, against Maki, your performance should not be like this. You should have won. Only then would you be worthy of your identity as the Hokage's son."
"Compared to Shinnosuke, you fall far too short."
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head.
After falling into a disadvantage, Asuma became increasingly nervous.
He kept glancing toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
When he saw Hiruzen shake his head, Asuma immediately panicked.
And with that panic, he revealed an opening to Maki.
Maki did not waste it. He seized the opportunity fiercely.
Puchi!
A wound appeared across Asuma's chest, and his body flew out of the arena.
Mui quickly announced the result.
"Winner, Sunagakure, Maki!"
Maki raised both hands high, receiving the cheers of the Sunagakure shinobi.
Losing the first match had placed enormous mental pressure on Maki.
But unlike Asuma, who had also been under enormous pressure, Maki did not have so many concerns dragging him down.
Instead, he focused all his energy on how to secure victory.
And in the end, he successfully won the match.
"Well done."
Rasa nodded.
Kisame Hoshigaki came to Maki's side.
No rift had formed between the two of them.
"Fifth match, Sunagakure versus Konoha."
"Kakashi versus Lie."
When they heard Kakashi's name, the Konoha side all revealed smiles.
"Kakashi, go take the win."
"Defeat that Sunagakure guy."
In the eyes of the Konoha shinobi, in this arena competition, Kakashi was unbeatable.
No one could be Kakashi's opponent.
But when they heard Lie's name, some Konoha shinobi could not help showing confused expressions.
"Lie? Who is that?"
"Does Sunagakure have a young shinobi by that name?"
"Some unknown little shinobi?"
"Or is he from another shinobi village again?"
One Konoha shinobi seemed to remember something.
"I remember now. Lie. His original name was Hongshan Lie!"
"He's the only survivor of the exterminated Hongshan clan!"
"The one who betrayed the Hongshan clan."
"Is he strong?"
"Probably not."
Quite a few people in the shinobi world knew about the Hongshan clan's affair.
It was listed alongside the Uchiha and Kaguya incidents as one of the three clan rebellion events.
During the Third Great Ninja War, it was a very important incident.
But unlike the Uchiha and Kaguya, both of whom had large numbers of people escape, only Lie remained from the Hongshan clan.
And this Lie had betrayed his clan and stood with the village.
From the village's perspective, Lie had acted with righteousness.
But at this moment, the people of Konoha looked at Lie with great disdain.
"As a member of the Hongshan clan, he actually betrayed the Hongshan clan. Can someone like that even be called human?"
"He watched his clansmen fall and die with his own eyes. Can his conscience live with that?"
"A man who has no clan in his heart—can he really have a village?"
A Sunagakure shinobi immediately retorted.
"What the hell do you Konoha people understand?"
"Lie stood on the side of the village's greater cause."
"How could small-minded people like you understand his capacity?"
Then someone mentioned the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.
"Does Konoha want every Uchiha to unite as one?"
"If that's the case, why don't you expel all the Uchiha still inside Konoha Village?"
"They aren't even loyal to their own clan. Do you think they'll truly be loyal to Konoha?"
"And the Hyuga clan. They don't even care when a member of the main family is sold out by the village."
"In their hearts, which matters more—their clansmen, or the village?"
The Konoha shinobi were instantly left speechless.
They could only change the topic.
"Our Kakashi will definitely win."
"That Lie from Sunagakure cannot possibly be Kakashi's opponent."
Many Sunagakure shinobi were worried about that as well.
Everyone in Sunagakure knew of Hongshan Lie's existence.
But very few understood his actual strength.
Not even Kisame Hoshigaki and Maki knew much.
"Lie, do your best!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered in silence.
"This Lie should be Sunagakure's lower horse. Against Kakashi, there should basically be no suspense. Kakashi will certainly win. What a pity. If Asuma had run into this Lie, things would have been much better."
"In that case, Konoha would have secured at least two wins against Sunagakure."
Two figures stepped into the arena.
One was Kakashi.
The other was Lie.
Mui confirmed with both of them.
After receiving confirmation that both were ready, he swung his hand down sharply.
"Match begin!"
Kakashi immediately began forming hand seals at high speed.
Most of the crowd's attention fell on Lie.
They wanted to see how this unknown person would respond when facing Kakashi.
"Don't tell me he's going to surrender right away?"
Just then—
Lie calmly took out a scroll.
Two puppets appeared.
The instant everyone saw those two puppets clearly, their eyes widened.
"What?"
"This isn't fair!"